by Lexi Blake
“What?” Pure embarrassment flashed through her system. “You went through my book?”
His lips curved up slightly. “Only enough to know that you have no problem with dirty talk and apparently are pretty open-minded when it comes to sex. I had to check through your whole system. Tell me something. Did you actually tell Carly I’m sex on a stick?”
That bastard. “I also said you were Satan incarnate.”
He shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“How could you read my e-mails? You said you didn’t suspect me.”
“I didn’t. Reading your e-mails had nothing to do with suspecting you and everything to do with the fact that my mother knows things about you I don’t and it makes me want to hurt her.” He turned back to the window. “She left that photograph for one of us. She planted it there because she thought me or Riley or Bran or Mia would be the next to open that box. She practically signed it. I wanted to see something sweet. If you’d had nude pictures of yourself on that system, I would have looked at them, too. I would have done it to make myself feel better. That’s the kind of person I am. You should think about that.”
Yes, he was all that and so much more. The one thing he didn’t seem to do was lie, and it wouldn’t have taken much for him to see the e-mails since she’d marked them plainly. The message line of the one he’d referenced was Drew Lawless Is an Asshole. She probably would have read that one, too.
And the book had been on her screen when she handed over the laptop. She cringed at the thought of the scene she’d been on. The superhot nerd had been dirty talking her uptight reporter heroine.
Yeah, she might have a few fantasies about the man. She’d started the damn book two years before, and her hero had been a big, gorgeous, dark-haired lawyer who’d morphed over the last few months into a blond tech god. She might have her own issues to work through.
He was lonely. She was lonely. They were working on a case together. Would it be so wrong to offer each other comfort? It wasn’t a grand passion like Carly and Bran had, but it could be nice all the same.
“If I had the crap kicked out of me, how would you comfort me?” Shelby asked quietly.
“What makes you think I’m capable of comforting anyone?”
“I’m an optimist at heart,” she admitted. “Are you saying you’re not capable of giving comfort?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’m saying I’m not very good at it.”
“Try. Think about it. I’ve gone through what you did today.”
He got up and crossed to the bar. He poured himself another drink. “I don’t know. I could offer to buy you something.”
“I don’t need anything.”
“Everyone needs something,” he insisted.
“What I need you can’t buy.”
He slumped back down in his seat. “Then I’m not sure I’m your man. Unless you want me to write you some code. I seriously doubt that would fix things.”
“What would your sister do?”
“She would say something mushy and give you a hug or some . . . Do you want a hug?” He said it like it was a completely foreign idea. And not a particularly welcome one. “I’m not a big hugger.”
“So you don’t believe in physical affection as a way of comforting your partner.”
“I guess I haven’t had the kind of partner who would find that comforting.”
She stood up. It was obvious that talk wasn’t going to get Drew out of his dark place. He needed something way more. While he might not recognize his need, she did, and she was completely unable to stop herself from fulfilling it. She stood and moved toward him.
She held out a hand and he reached for it, realization dawning in his eyes as he pulled her down on his lap. He set his drink aside as he wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Ah, now I understand. You were asking me how I would comfort you, but you were really asking how you could comfort me,” he said with a sigh. “I told you I was slow when it came to the social stuff. Let me start over. I would kiss you, Shelby. I would kiss you long and hard. I would kiss you until you forgot about everything but me.”
He might not be the quickest guy when it came to figuring out what she wanted, but once he got it, he knew how to soften her up.
Shelby ran her fingers through his hair, smoothing it back. “I’m not like the other women in your life, Drew. I don’t want you to write me a check or promote me to some big job. But I do want to comfort you when you’re feeling bad. Yes, I did write to Carly about you. Mostly I called you names, but I also talked about how attracted I was to you. I think she saw through the third-grade name-calling. Apparently she wasn’t at all surprised to find out we’re dating.”
“I told you.” His hand flattened against her back and he started making soothing circles there. “Bran told me I should ask you out the day we met. Forgive me for reading that e-mail. I’m going to respect your privacy, I promise, but in that moment I just . . .”
“Wanted to be close to me but couldn’t figure out how?”
“I needed something to distract me. Not something. I needed you. I’m sorry.”
He was going to kill her. She cupped that glorious jawline of his. “Forgiven, but I do want you to respect my privacy. Except when your crazy mother decides to infiltrate my laptop.”
“I’m sure she’s on your phone, too.”
“Damn it.” She started to reach for her phone.
He held her tight. “Let her. It’s why I sent you everything via courier.”
It had seemed so weird and paranoid that he’d sent messengers who stayed and awaited her answer. When she’d asked him to call her so they could talk, he’d actually sent a prepaid cell phone. “You knew?”
“I didn’t know for sure, but it’s what I would do to a woman who’d suddenly started investigating a murder that should be closed. If I were the murderer, that is. And I suspect now that she’s been watching me all along.”
“Should I get a new phone?”
“I’ll have a safe phone for you tomorrow, but no. You should use yours and let her listen in on you. You’re crazy about me and you’re not interested in reporting right now. You want to spend time with me and work on that book you’re writing. Can I read it?”
She shook her head in abject horror. “No.”
“But it looked so interesting. Mostly I like how you wrote the word cock a couple of times. And pussy. Your heroine seemed very interested in what the hero was packing, if you know what I mean. Have I mentioned how pretty you are when you blush?”
Yep, she could feel the heat in her cheeks. “Nope, but I seem to do it a lot around you.”
“I don’t want you to be shy around me. I don’t want you to be intimidated by me or scared of me. I’m sick of people pandering to me. I kind of like it when you yell at me. You’re pretty when you yell, too.”
He was so weird, and it did something for her. She’d told him she wasn’t like the other women in his life, but the reverse was true as well. The men she’d dated before Drew had all been charming and polished and good at the social game. Drew was none of those things and yet something about him called to her.
“Are you serious about seeing where we can go?”
“I am, Shelby. If you believe nothing else about me, believe that. I want you. I want to spend time with you, and I want to see if maybe you’re the woman who can handle my damage. Before you say something optimistic, you should know that it’s a lot of damage. You would be smart to walk away from me.”
“I think I can handle it.” She lifted her face up and looked into those stunning blue eyes of his. “I might have some of my own.”
He lowered his mouth to hers, hovering. “I can definitely handle yours.”
He kissed her, his lips moving with power over hers. He didn’t hesitate this time. He seemed to let himself revel in her. His hand found its way to
“Tell me I can touch you,” he whispered against her lips.
“Drew, we’re not alone.” She wanted him to touch her, craved it actually. He kissed her again, his tongue dragging along her bottom lip, requesting entry. She opened for him and was immediately rewarded with the sexy slide of his tongue along hers.
He delved deep, his hand cupping her knee. “No one’s going to interrupt us. Not until it’s time to land or I ask for something.”
“You do this often?”
He frowned. “Oh, you think . . . no. I meant I’ve taken many meetings. I’ve never made out on a plane. I know you won’t believe this, but until now I wasn’t much of a creative thinker when it came to sex.”
So single-minded. “You’re talking in the past tense. I take it now you want to be a little wilder?”
“Maybe I needed the right woman to spark my imagination. I want to fuck you here, Shelby. I want to lift your skirt up and open my slacks and have you ride the hell out of me, and I don’t want you to be quiet. I don’t give a damn what anyone hears as long as they don’t comment on it. This is my plane and if I want to fuck the most beautiful woman in the world on it, I’m going to do just that.”
He knew how to build up a girl’s ego. Something deep in the back of her brain was telling her this man was far too good to be true, but she wasn’t listening. “Touch me, Drew.”
A triumphant look crossed his face, and his lips descended once more. Over and over he kissed her while his hands manipulated her body. He gently spread her legs so he could run a hand over her pussy. A brief caress that had her heating up and left her wanting more. He kissed her lips and jaw and throat. His hand came out of her skirt and up her body to cup her breast.
“I want to touch you everywhere. Fuck, you’re so soft.”
He wasn’t. She could feel his erection against her, and there was nothing soft about him. Was she ready for this? Her body definitely was, but she wasn’t sure about her heart.
She did have damage. She had a horrible fear of abandonment, and yet here she was about to get seriously attached to a man she shouldn’t date, much less sleep with. Her rational mind knew this wouldn’t work out. No matter what he said, the fact that she was going to write a book about his family would drive a wedge between them. It would be so much smarter to keep her distance, but his hands felt like heaven on her skin. He slid one hand under the fabric of her bra, and she nearly sighed at the sensation. Her nipples had peaked, and the feel of his thumb rasping over one sent a sizzle straight to her core.
Before she knew what he was doing, she found herself turned on his lap, her back to his chest. His knees spread her legs wide, and her skirt had worked itself up so she could feel cool air on her exposed thighs. His tongue dragged over the sensitive skin of her neck as he teased her breasts. Shelby could barely breathe. Never in her life had a man gotten her so hot and ready in such a short amount of time, but then maybe she’d been ready since the first time she saw him. Every moment after had been a long, slow seduction. Even when she’d been so mad at him she could spit, she’d thought about him in bed.
All the reasons she should push him away evaporated.
“I want to make you come, Shelby,” he whispered before his tongue ran along the shell of her ear. He rolled her right nipple between his thumb and forefinger before giving it a tug. “I want to make you forget that there’s anyone here except the two of us. We’re the only people who matter, so don’t hold back on me.”
She couldn’t think of anything but how he was holding her, how his voice had gone low and dark and deep. “I want you to.”
His right hand left her breast, and suddenly her skirt was pushed almost up to her waist and she could feel his fingers slip under the band of her panties. So close. He was so close to where she needed him to be. Just a bit more.
“You want me to what?” His finger brushed over her clit but it wasn’t nearly enough. It was a delicate caress when she needed strength. Craved it.
“I want you to touch me.”
“I did, baby. Look, I’ll do it again.” The pad of his finger barely whispered over her.
Frustration welled hard and fast. “You know what I want, Drew.”
“Yes, I do,” he said with an infuriating chuckle. “But I want to hear you say it. I want that smart, sweet mouth to talk dirty to me. I’m not going to be a polite lover with you, Shelby. I want more. I want demanding and dirty. I want the part of you no one else gets.”
He wanted a part of her she’d never acknowledged existed except on the pages of the book she wanted to write. Somehow he made it seem natural to let that Shelby out.
“Make me come, Drew. I want you to rub my clit and make me come. Make me scream for you.”
His hips moved against her, his hand pressing down. She was caught between his hands and his cock, and she wasn’t going anywhere until she’d had everything he’d promised her.
“That’s what I want, baby.” His thumb found her clit, rotating as his fingers dipped into her pussy. “You’re so wet.”
She couldn’t remember ever being so wet and ready for a man. This reaction was only for Drew, and she knew it deep down inside. Their chemistry was like nothing she’d ever felt before, and she was more than ready to explore it. “Please, Drew.”
“Yes,” he whispered. “I’ll give you whatever you want. I want to make you happy.”
She let go of everything but the feel of his hand on her, the hard press of his cock from behind. Over and over his long, talented fingers pumped deep inside her while his thumb worked her over. She moved against him, finding the perfect rhythm. It built and built until it was a wave she could no longer contain.
The orgasm flashed through her and she gasped. So good. The pleasure rushed along her skin and she relaxed back, her body satisfied.
“Yes, baby. That’s what I wanted. Now I’m going to pick you up and take you to the bedroom and I’m going to fuck you hard. You’re so fucking wet for me.”
“There’s a bedroom?” She heard herself asking the question, but she was concentrating on the way he handled her so easily. She wasn’t a tiny thing. None of that mattered to Mr. Muscles. He simply shifted her in his arms and stood up like she weighed nothing at all. Yeah, that did something for her, too.
“Of course. It’s the smallest of my jets, but I sometimes nap on the way to New York or LA.” His eyes gleamed with heat as he stared down at her. “But this will be the first time I’ve fucked a goddess in it.”
She let her arms drift up, willing to do anything the man wanted.
“Mr. Lawless, I am so sorry to bother you.” A feminine voice broke through the intimacy of the moment. The flight attendant was standing in the doorway to the cabin, averting her eyes.
“Excellent, then don’t,” Drew replied, his voice flat.
“What’s wrong? Don’t mind him. He has no manners at all.” Shelby knew she needed to take over because there was zero way that woman had walked into the cabin without a good reason.
“It’s Mr. Hatchard,” she said. “He couldn’t get you to answer your cell so he called the pilot, who spoke with me. There’s a driver waiting in Austin to take you to the police department.”
Drew set her on her feet, suddenly interested in the conversation. “Why would I need to go there?”
“Because there’s been a break-in at your house. The police have the suspect in custody,” the flight attendant explained.
“Excellent.” Drew reached for her hand again. “I’ll talk to them in the morning.”
Shelby found herself being dragged toward the mysterious bedroom. Drew was like a caveman but there was something sexy about his insistence. He couldn’t seem to care less that his house had been broken into. “Drew, have you thought about this? You have a launch in a few months. What if they stole your code?”
“I’ll write a new code.”
“Mr. Lawless, the police claim the man in custody is your brother,” the attendant called out.
That stopped Drew on a dime. “My brothers have keys.”
“He says his name is Noah and that Benedict Lawless was his father. I’m sure there’s some mistake, but Mr. Hatchard was extremely disturbed on the phone.”
Drew dropped her hand. “How far out are we?”
The attendant moved to the bar. “We land in twenty minutes and like I said, I’ve already arranged a car to pick you up. Can I fix you another drink, sir?”
Drew slumped down into his seat, his eyes already taking on the far-off look he had when he was brooding. “Scotch, please.”
What fresh hell were they going into now? Whatever it was she was going to be by his side. “I’ll take care of him. Thank you very much.”
Shelby poured him a Scotch and sat down next to him. He was as distant as they’d been close only moments before.
She slipped her hand over his, letting the silence grow between them.
She was pleased when he flipped his hand over and let his fingers tangle with hers.
“Will you come with me?” Drew asked, not looking at her.
She leaned against him. “Of course.”
He went back to silence, but she held on to him.
Chapter Five
Drew stared through the two-way glass at the kid sitting in the interview room, his hands cuffed in front of him. Noah Walker looked even younger than his nineteen years as he sat talking to the police detective. He was wearing a threadbare T-shirt and a jacket that wouldn’t have given him much warmth. He looked like he needed a haircut, too.
“Oh my God. Is that what you looked like at that age?” Shelby stepped in beside him, her jaw dropping as she got her first look at the young man who’d attempted to break into his house.
He hadn’t gotten far, according to the police. The kid had managed to jump over the fence and had been caught on camera by Drew’s security company. The police had been called out and discovered the kid by the pool, half asleep in one of the lounge chairs with nothing but a backpack full of cheap protein bars, two pairs of jeans, a sweatshirt, and some extra underwear. They’d also found a whole eleven dollars and twenty-three cents and a used bus ticket from Connecticut to Austin.
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